Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Malay Supremacy (Ketuanan Melayu)

UPDATED 28/01/2010

"You can call it whatever you want, the social contract, perjanjian keramat, whatever.

But in this perjanjian, the Malay inhabitants decided to share this country with those who were then considered pendatang. The contract also clearly upheld hak keistimewaan orang Melayu. But at the same time, there was compromise."

"Ketuanan Melayu has always existed, but at different times in history it carried different meanings. Today, ketuanan Melayu should mean that Malaysian culture must have budaya Melayu at its core.

It doesn't mean a Malay [Malaysian] is more superior than a non-Malay [Malaysian]. It doesn't mean other cultures are not Malaysian, but that they play a supporting role to Malay culture. It's a question of whether or not all Malaysians can speak Bahasa Melayu fluently. If you can't, then there's a problem somewhere."

1. In the context of Malay supremacy, it means that the special privileges of the Malay people need to be preserved as the Malay people are recognised as the original people of the once known "Semenanjung Tanah Melayu", now known as Malaysia. The special privileges are entrenched in the Constitution to reciprocate the willingness of the Malay people to accept the migrants as citizens.

2. Malay supremacy does not mean the Malay people reign supreme over the other people in Malaysia, whose original generation in this country were migrants.

As understood from Prof. Madya Zainal Abidin Borhan, a lecturer and Head of Malay Studies Academy of University Malaya:-

1. There are efforts by certain quarters to destroy the nationalism of the Malay people. They drummed up the wrong concept of Malay supremacy. (Read here)

2. Malay supremacy means "Kedaulatan Melayu" which is entrenched in the Constitution, involving matters pertaining to the status of the Rulers, the religion of Islam, the Malay Language as the National Language, all that, must be respected.

The Concept/Definition of the Malay Supremacy as being understood from this SOURCE.

Keris

"Keris" has become the symbol of the Malay Rulers and the people of Malaysia. "Keris" has also become the National symbol of Malaysia. There are no less than five pieces of "Keris" which has become part of the emblem's image.

The Social Contract

"The best example of Alliancecompromisesis to be seen in their representations to the Constitutional Commission on whatbasis the Federationof Malayawas to be established and what its nationality was to be. 79 Given the precedents set up in the Federation of Malaya Agreement of 1948, the terms could not vary much. For UMNO, the trappings of a Malay state had to be preserved. The Malays had to be givenpolitical primacy. On the other hand, for MCA and the MIC, the terms of citizenship had to become as open and loose as possible to the non-Malays and their rights had to be protected.

The Alliance memorandum to the Reid Constitution had, in fact, agreed to all the features of a Malay state –“special position of the Malays”, “Malay as the national language”, “Islam as the official religion”and the MalayRulers as“constitutional monarchs”.There were also“Malay land reservations” and “reservation for Malays of a certain proportion of jobs in the civil service”. But the controversial questions of citizenship and nationality had been left vague. The MCA had pressed for the principle of jus solifor all those bornbefore, on or afterMalaya’s independence, but UMNO’s demand was that only those born in the country“on”andafter the declaration of independence” should become nationals of the country.UMNO’s demand was acceptedby the Reid Constitution."

(The Social Contract page 36 & 37 - Malaysia : The Making of A Nation by Boon Kheng Cheah – Published by Institute of Southeast Asian Studies 2002 - ISBN 9812301755, 9789812301758)